The Slow Dance
by IntertwiningDestinies
Summary: Hmmmmmmm Aang and the Gang go to a dance, in the upper ring of Ba Sin Sa! What will unfold for Katara and Aang! READ AND REVEIW I LOVE BOTH GOOD AND BAD!Please I want to get better at writing! Reviews would help sooooooooooo much!


A Confused Mind

Summary- what will happen when the Gang goes to a dance??? Read and find out!!! I would love reviews good and some constructive criticism, rather than harsh words. (Based on a night in my life, not all of it, just some of it.)

DISCLAMER-Yeah like I own avatar, puh please. Yeah if you don't now sarcasm I don't own avatar, I'd like to but sadly I don't.

_Wow what a night..._Katara whispered softly in her mind.

_I can't believe what happened...I...me...wow..._Katara says as she sat alone on the cold wet sand on the small island, off the shore of Ba Sing Se. She listens to the soft pounding of waves just a couple feet down below her, as she closes her delicate eyes close remembering hours earlier that very day...

"KATARA!!!" Sokka yells waving his arms in the air franticly, downstairs, about to apparently have a total meltdown.

"WHAT!!!" Goodness can't a girl get ready!!! Shesh!!! Said katara, yelling from upstairs Obliviously ticked at her brother's interruption.

Well excuse me; "Miss it take's me a WHOLE HOUR TO GET READY FOR A STUPID DANCE!!!" Sokka says breathing heavily from screaming so loud.

"Sokka leave her alone she's just trying to look nice..."Aang says, also wondering what in the heck is she doing that can take her so long.

"I'm ready!" Katara cheerfully said as she skips down the spiral brown hardwood stairs, with each step the wood slightly creaking, beneath her feet.

It didn't take me that long...did it? Katara says as see reaches the end of the spiral staircase.

Katara faces the group wearing a beautiful dress. At the beginning of the deep ocean blue dress, it had two straps, and then a small ruffle followed by four small greenish buttons, ending at her bust line. As the dress went down it flowed out and was getting looser, around her hips. At the very end there was a small ruffled border around the bottom of the dress. It ended just below knee length. There was a simple pattern to the dress. Small embellished flowers with little dots all over as well. The pattern was the same color of the dress and blended in with it very nicely. Her dark brown hair was put up in a clip, and the extra hair fanned out from the clip. Some strands of her soft supple hair was left hanging framing her tan face. She put on nude lip-gloss and shimmer bronze eye shadow, matching her skin tone. She looked absolutely flawless.

The three of them just looked at her up and down, eyes wide open.

What...Katara said with some fear in her voice wondering what they were thinking.

"Nothing...you just look...really...well, nice looking" Sokka said, with his eyes wide open, realizing that this was his younger sister looking this good. He was thinking about saying something so she would change, but decided to let her be and have a chance to grow up.

Aang looked at her, in pure amazement. He was...so stunned...

"You sure know how to get all dolled up, now don cha?" Said Toph, and elbowing Aang in the gut, to get him to stop staring at her.

"Ow...what was that for!" Said Aang looking at Toph, in amazement at how hard she elbowed him...was he staring too much?

"Well, I just think that your eyes must hurt looking at one spot for so long, I certainly didn't want your eyes to dry out." Said Toph in a mocking voice, looking at Aangs beet-red, blushing face.

"Yeah...thanks..."Aang mumbled from under his breathe as he stole one last glance at Katara.

"My pleasure, anything to help my favorite Avatar!" Remarked Toph, giving Aang a quick noggie.

"So...now that you have all stared at me from head to toe, how about we go?" Katara said.

"That sounds like a plan, sugar queen", answered Toph with a tiny drop of sarcasm in her voice.

"Yeah, Lets get a move on!" Said Aang rubbing his head, it still hurt.

They all went outside to an area with grass and a little bit sandy, where Appa was resting, underneath a large tree. They quickly hoped on Appa and with a slight moan, they were off toward, to the upper class ring for the Spring Fling dance. Katara stole a glance at Aang. He was not wearing his normal attire. He had a black silk, button down shirt. When the moonlight hit the buttons just right they seemed to sparkle. His pants were a mix of light khaki and totally white. He wore his normal shoes, for he didn't have another pair. His arrows looked particular really shiny and blue. All this looking was making her heart beat faster and faster. She looked away when she noticed it was a while that she was looking at him. Being curious, she looked at Sokka to see what he was wearing and was very surprised that he had his hair down and good pants on for a change of pace.

"Wow sokka, you managed to put on clean pants!" Katara said with a little smirk.

No answer came from the oblivious brother. Totally unaware that his sister just insulted him.

"Sokka!" Katara said a tiny bit annoyed that he didn't hear her.

"Huh... what..." Sokka said, as he looked at her, totally unaware of his surroundings.

"I just insulted you on your pants, are you ok?" Katara said, pondering whether he really is ok or not.

"Oh...I'm fine." Sokka blankly said and looked at his feet, with a glance at the moon.

Katara watched as he glanced at the gray silver moon, it was full tonight. It looked so beautiful. She slid next to him and put a reassuring hand on her brother's shoulder.

"I'm...I'm sorry I insulted you..." Katara whispered in to sokka's ear.

"It's ok...I'm ok..." Sokka said, with one final glace at the moon, then turned away.

"I'll always be here for you..." Katara said, and put down her hand off his shoulder.

He looked at her, a little shocked "Really?"

"Of course Sokka, whenever you need me," as she said this Toph turned her head and agreed with katara's statement.

"Sokka, me three", said a cherry faced Aang.

This made the heartbroken sokka smile and feel better. He then learned out of the saddle and exclaimed," Hey there it is" His face lit up, and soon the gang descended.

_Thwump_ Appa landed on ground, just outside the entrance of the dance.

They all hopped off Appa, exited about the dance. The door leading into the dance was well over 10ft tall and was made of gold and the doorknobs were made of shiny bronze. Katara happily ran to the door grasped the doorknobs and pushed with all her power and opened the door. Inside the whole room was white. When you went in you went through a wall of pink, green, blue, and yellow streamers. There were some hanging from the ceiling also. In the right corner of the room, there was a small stage, which a band was placed playing dancing music. On the far left corner there was food, which knowing Sokka, was already there, stuffing his face with all that he could grab with his two hands. Toph, Aang and Katara stared to giggle at Sokka, as he was stuffing his face, almost chocking. There was a silver disco ball hanging by a couple strings of thick thread. Across the room a blue light was shining on the disco ball, making small blue circles swirl around the room. There was a smoke machine and ever so often a puff of white smoke would appear from under the stage, were the smoke machine was cleverly hidden. It looked like it was going to be a good night. During the first 30minutes of the dance there was party music and the gang was dancing up a storm, at the end they were panting hard.

"Wow that was fun," said Katara, breathing heavily.

Yeah...what great music! Aang said, in uneven heavy breathes. His hands on his knees glancing at Katara. "_Even after dancing, she still looks amazing..."_

I got to go to the bathroom, said Katara already heading for the ladies room. A few minutes later she returned and the announcer stated to speak..."Hey Hey Hey! You party freaks! Now you guys go and grab a girl and get ready for a slowwwwwww dance..." The announcer announced. Katara turned her head and saw Aang, just standing there. Aang turned his head and looked at Katara longingly. She didn't know what to do with his stare, except look like a complete fool, and stare back. She started to blush and immediately dove back into the bathroom. Stood on the toilet seat and sat there, waiting for the dreaded slow dance to be over with, so she could get out. She thought of nothing but Aang. How bad did she want his hands on her hips, and her arms wrapped so delicately around his cute little neck. She hung her head down in disappointment. _"But...that would never happen..."_ She sighed. It hurt sitting like this, and she was not happy. Sokka seeing Katara run back into the bathroom knew exactly what to do. He quickly pulled Aang over and whispered in his ear, "I bet she's pretty lonely.

"Who?" Aang said wondering what sokka meant. He really knew he was talking about Katara going back into the bathroom, but he didn't know why. So he was going to play dumb, to find out.

"Katara, she went into the bathroom so she wouldn't see people slow dance." Sokka said as if he knew everything.

"Why would she do that?" Aang asked still acting puzzled, if not more.

"BECAUSE SHE'S LONLEY!" Sokka said almost screaming in Aangs ear.

"Oh..." Aang said a little less puzzled this time. _"Lonely...then what do you want me to do about it?"_ Aang wondered _"I was going to ask her to dance, but she went into the bathroom, before I could walk to her and ask..."_

"You should dance with her." Said sokka in a tone of voice that sounded very mature. Weird.

"Ok...I'll do it." Aang said now, fully getting the situation. _"YES!!! I get to dance with her, and I got permission from her older brother!!! Well...sort of...He kind of asked me to do it, but I was going to in the first place...So Here I go!!!"_

Katara, meanwhile, was very uncomfortable and decided to come out and not be too sad about being lonely, and worst of all, not being with Aang. Just when she came out, Aang was right there with a hand gesture towards her and said, "Katara would you dance with me?"

"What... Is this a joke..."? Katara answered wondering if this was a prank to humiliate her. She looked around for something to pop out at her.

No... This isn't a joke!" Aang said a little shocked to see her react that way.

Sokka pushed them both toward the middle of the dance floor and stood there, waiting for them to dance. Unsure of what to do Katara and Aang decided to just dance side to side, just swinging back and forth, looking like idiots. Sokka didn't like this, and was determined to get them together, so he ran over took Katara's hands wrapped it around Aangs neck and grabbed Aang's hands and put them on Katara's hips.

"That's better" Sokka said and went away with a smile of satisfaction, thinking how great its going to be getting them together.

Katara's hands were cupped together and her arms wrapped gently around Aang's warm soft neck. His hands softly held her hips, as they rocked back and forth, in an endless pace. Their eyes did not meet; they both stared off in the distance, both gently shaking thinking if they should say something to the other person. They were both, equally scared. They were scared because they wondered if they should say the words that burn inside them both, their feelings. They wanted their feeling's to be out, to be free and not having the danger of bursting into flames because they keep it all inside themselves for so long. Katara turned slightly to the left facing aangs soft grin and his beautiful grey eyes looking at her. Tiny beads of sweat drip down her forehead. She managed to finally say something in a slightly shaky voice.

"Ummm... Aang were going around in a circle," Katara whispered softly.

"Oh ummm... I never did this before..." Aang said, stuttering.

"Me either," Katara says, relived that he knew that she didn't know what she was doing.

She gently put her foot down on the dark dirt floor and stopped the spinning motion.

"Gently rock back and forth," Katara says starting the rocking motion.

Aang quickly picked it up and they gently rocked back and forth, not in endless circles.

Katata leans in and whispers in aangs ear, "That's better", sending nervous chills down his spine.

Katara wanted to move closer to him, but she felt like she's locked in the motion of them rocking back in forth. She wanted to be next to him looking into his grey glass eyes.

She briefly closes her eyes imagining them next to each other so close...so close that they can feel each other breathe. So close there hearts are touching. So close that they could kiss. The music begins to fade and Katara opens her eyes wondering what is happening. Soon she realizes that her dream of dancing with Aang is ending and as seconds tick by and the music growing fainter and fainter, her dream of them being close is dwindling. His hands fall off of her hips. She pulls her limp arms off and turns away, feeling disregard over not moving closer to him. She looks over her shoulder and he is gone.

She walks with her head held up high to the punch bowl and is smiling from ear to ear.

"You looked awfully happy..." Said sokka with a slight grin.

" I guess I'm pretty happy," said Katara glancing at Aang who is talking to Toph.

Katara scooped up some punch and walked to an empty white chair next to the band.

The rest of the night was pretty much the same; the whole gang partied all night long. At the end of the dance, everyone was exhausted and ready to leave. The stumbled out of the dance saying quick thanks yous, and walking up to a huge, furry, five-ton bison, Appa. Once they were all in the saddle. Aang said his typical cry " Appa, Yip Yip!" Appa grunted and soon they were off the their small yellow beach house on a island of the shores of the earth kingdom stronghold, Ba Sing Se. The island was tiny only holing a couple dozen beach houses and a market, located in the middle of the island. There weren't many plants, but tons and tons of magnificent shells along the beach. There was such an assortment of shells, and all colors of the rainbow, including every shade in between imaginable. After a couple minutes Appa began his decent onto the large grassy, and slightly sandy area near the western side of the beach house. Covering the sides of this area where colorful and edible flowers and leaves. Appa immediately noticed this and galloped clumsily toward the flowers, some drool leaving a path.

"That Appa!" Exclaimed Aang, looking at Appa with a slightly grossed out face.

Katara removed her glance down from her shoes onto Aangs smiling face. Her heart began to race as she thought of them dancing. She quickly looked away, fearing that he saw her loving glance and she made her way to the beach, through the pass in the backyard.

Having her flash back ended, she reopened her eyes, back to gazing at the clam ocean. She didn't realize how close she was to the soft pounding shore break and the bottom of her dress was drenched in salty sea water and speckled with white coarse sand. Katara scooted up the beach and then dug her feet deeply in to the sand. The cold wet sand underneath the surface gave her goose bumps, and quickly pulled her feet out and pulled them close to her chest.

_I wonder what Aang thought about our...dance..._ She gave this alot of thought, about how simple and planned it all looked._ Was it a...dare was this all planed? Does he not care about it at all? Was it all useless!_ _It... Wasn't real...did he feel anything...did he not want to do it, but was forced too!!! Dose he... not like me...WAS IT REALLY A JOKE!!! _Katara's hands were balled up into a fist and lay there on the sand, shaking. Katara took her eyes off the sky and looked at the sand, near her feet. A small single tear, fell out of the corner of her eye, slide down her cheek and fell onto the cold sand, eventually fading into the sand. She could feel the truth slowly pour out of the situation. She imagined it all a setup, Aang telling her that it was all just a setup and he never like her at all. She could almost feel her heart cracking and falling apart, as she imagined him walking away from her...forever. She then sees herself on her hands and knees crying her heart out. More tears started to fall and dot the sands with sadness. The air wispt her hair around her face, strands of hair getting stuck in the tears pouring out of her eyes. She closed her eyes, let the last few tears fall to the sand, and she fell silent. She put her head on her knees and tried to breathe evenly, but it was hard, just crying really hard. Something rustled in the bushes next to the path leading back up to the beach house. She held her breath, waiting for another sound, so she could hear where it was coming from, if it happened to be a threat. Not another sound for five long tiring minutes. Katara soon forgot about it and closed her eyes once more. She was so deep in thought about Aang and her, that she didn't hear the soft small footsteps coming out the bush and walking causally down the beach toward her. She began to rub her legs; it was getting cold quick outside. _Maybe I should go in...No... once I get myself together, I'll go inside and see everybody...Aang too. _A thought then occurred to her._ Wait...why I'm I feeling this way... I don't know anything about why he asked me to dance. I should be feeling good, that he might actually like me! I guess I just need to find out why or just... wait. _All of a sudden, out of literally nowhere, Katara felt something warm, and fluffily put on her back and shoulders. She realized someone was listing and watching her, realized that she was cold and... got her a jacket. Then that someone then sat next to her. She didn't move, she kept her head on her knees. She kept thinking who would spy on her like that for so long... She peered out of the corner of her eye, and saw how close that person was to her. Her heart stated to race, and she blushed a little, when she saw the familiar yellow pants and little white feet. _It's...Aang? Why? Did he see me crying! AHHHHH WHAT I'M I GOING TO SAY! THAT I'M COMPLELETY MENTAL AND I'M CRYING OVER YOU, OVER SOMETHING I BARLEY KNOWS ABOUT! _

"Um...Katara..." Aang said a little shy.

Katara turned her head, and it was really Aang that was spying on her and got her a jacket and is making sure she is ok!

"Are you...ok..." Aang said looking at Katara slightly blushing.

"I wasn't trying to spy on you, on purpose. I was coming down to the beach to look for you, and I saw you, all bundled up and your fists closed tightly. I was scared to bother you so I... hid from you and I was going to come out when you seemed fine. Then you really started to cry hard, and I couldn't decide, to come out then, or later. I choose later. Finally you seemed ok, so I headed down to give you your jacket and make sure you where ok."

Katara slowly raised her head and looked at Aang. _You really do care about me?_

"I'm sorry, I kind of spied on you..." Said Aang during Katara's really long stare.

"Its...Its ok" Katara finally said, making Aang a little less nervous. Katara then looked out unto the water, Aang followed her glance and was too, looking out onto the water.

"So...why where you crying?" Said Aang a little nervous asking her this. Katara looked at her feet and replied," I was crying...because... I was...never mind it doesn't matter." She looked away fearing about how stupid she must look. Aang looked really confused after her answer. He moved even closer to her and said " Why where you crying so hard for then, it must be important!" Katara didn't answer and looked away from him. Aang mustering up all his courage slide so close that their sides where touching. Katara still looked away, and with each second, both their hearts beating faster and cheeks blushing harder. He slowly picked up his hand, hesitated a little, but made up his mind and leaned over and with the softest touch put his hand on her cheek. He slowly moved his hand slightly under her chin and pulled her head facing him, so that they would be facing each other. After they were facing he slide his hand back up to Kataras cheek. Katara was so surprised that Aang would do this, she was totally in awe. They were both looking at each other. Aangs hand still on her blushing cheek.

"I...uh...Why where you crying, I want to know." Aang said looking madly deeply onto Kataras eyes with an unbreakable loving stare. Katara's eyes began to water up and she tried to pull away, but it was no use. Aang took his other hand and placed it on her other cheek. Forcing her to look at him. Tears began to stream down her face, down his hands and fall into her lap. The silence was unbearable. Aangs mind began to wander, about what to do now. In a relatively short time, he found the answer. He moved his head closer, and closer so that the space between their heads was about a couple of inches. Even closer between their lips. Katara was blushing, shaking and crying all at the same time. She was so scared, whether to tell him why she was crying, to lie, why was he holding her like this, why was she crying, at this moment? Thoughts and emotions were swirling around so fast and they were both so confused about what in the heck to do! Then everything suddenly seemed to stop. Aang and Katara knew what to do. Aang still holding Katara's blushing cheeks pulled them toward him. Katara leaned forward. They both stopped at about half an inch away from their lips touching. Aang then made the move, and romantically pulled her in the rest of the way, and finally there lips touched. Their heads were bursting with fireworks! They both closed their eyes and continued to passionately kiss, in front of very much romantic setting of the dark ocean, with its waves pounding down below the shoreline, beating with their hearts. Kataras picked up her hands romantically wrapped them around Aangs neck, just as how the danced, Aangs hands still held Kataras soft tan face, and soft rosy cheeks. After all there emotions were realized for each other, they pulled away. Aangs hands fell from her face and Kataras hands fell off Aangs shoulder. Even though they stopped kissing, fireworks were still going off and emotions spilling out of them, all in pure silence. Aang, not knowing what to do next got up and was about to go, when Katara grabbed his hand. She looked into his eyes and said,

" I was crying...about the dance, that you and me shared. I was crying because I thought it was all a setup and you never liked me, at all and didn't care. Then you came with a jacket and sat next to me to make sure I was ok. You cared. Then you... kissed me, and I kissed you back. Aang, I felt something I never felt before...I felt fireworks...I felt all my emotions pour out of me and into the air, letting you now how much I...love you. Now you're going to leave me? After all that? If your going to go, just answer one question for me...was the dance...real?"

Aang looked at Katara for a long time. _She loves me?_ He knelt down and grabbed her shoulders, looked into her eyes and said.

"The dance...was real. I can't believe you cried over how I didn't love you, because I...do. I love you. The kiss...I have wanted to kiss you so much and wanted to show you my feelings for you and...I felt fireworks too..." Katara started to cry. "Why are you crying? What did I do! Is it something I said!" asked Aang wondering if he shouldn't have said it all, bearing all his feelings, in one day. "I...I..hmmm." Katara chuckled. She then took Aangs head pulled him and kissed him again. Aang fell from the surprise kiss and Katara fell on him. They stopped kissing and She said, "Aang..." He stopped her, and hugged her, they were lying on the cold sand kissing, hugging and laughing. They did it. They said all that needed to be said. They know of all each other's feelings and felt it, in their hearts. As they walked up the sandy hill, hand in hand, all that the words that were being spoken was only three, I Love You.


End file.
